Software for managing a virtualized data center is responsible for monitoring physical hosts and virtual machines (VMs) running in the physical hosts and, further, for performing management operations such as provisioning and configuration tasks. One example of such management software is vSphere™ available from VMware, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif. The set of hosts, VMs, data storage units, networks, and the organization of these elements into data centers, clusters, and resource pools, managed by such software, is commonly referred to as a virtualized computer inventory (hereinafter referred to as the “inventory”).
In a conventional virtualized data center, one or more administrators are responsible for monitoring and managing the operation of the virtualized data center. The administrators carry out such tasks typically using a management terminal having a graphical user interface or a command-line interface to interact with the management software. In response, the management terminal issues appropriate management instructions to the management software over a network, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a Virtual Private Network (VPN), or other suitable communication networks.
The ability to manage the virtualized data center from a remote device has become increasingly important, especially in scenarios where an administrator may be out of the office. Administrators may utilize a remote device (e.g., a smartphone, personal digital assistant, tablet computer) running a management terminal software application to interact with the management software. However, as remote devices proliferate and utilize a wide variety of hardware and software platforms, it becomes challenging to provide and support a management terminal software application that is compatible with all the different hardware and software platforms.